Apparatus for condensing steam and heating feed-water



F. SAMUELSON.

APPARATUS FOR CONDENSING STEAM AND HEATING FEED WATER.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT-26, 191B- 7 77 I Patented Apr. 26,1921.

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Inventor; Frederick Samuelson,

His fittorney FREDERICK SAJEQIUELSON, 0F RUGBY, ENGLAND, ASSIGN'OR T0GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW FORK.

APPARATUS FOR CONDEN SING STEM AN D HEATING- FEED-WATER.

Application filed September 26, 1918. Serial No. 255,817.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, F REDERIOK SAMUEL- soN, a subject of the Kin ofGreat Britain and Ireland, residing at ugby, county of W arwickshire,England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatusfor Condensing Steam and Heating Feed-Water, of which the following is aspecification. y

The present invention relates to power systems in which steam exhaustingfrom a prime mover or extracted from a region of intermediate pressuretherein is used to supply heat to the feed water which is supplied tothe steam generator.

The object of the invention is to provide an improved system of theabove referred to character, and for a consideration of What I believeto be novel and my invention, attention is directed to the accompanyingspecification and the claims appended thereto.

In the drawing, Figure 1 is a diagram of a system embodying myinvention; Fig. 2 is a sectional view on a larger scale than Fig. 1 of avalve mechanism which forms a part of the system, and Fig. 8 is alongitudinal sectional view of a heat exchange device.

Referring to the drawing, 5 indicates a prime mover here shown in theform of a steam turbine provided with an inlet conduit'6 which may leadfrom a suitable steam generator and an exhaust conduit 7 which leads toa condenser 8. Condensate is removed from the condenser 8 by a pump 9which draws the condensate off through a conduit 10 and delivers itthrough a conduit 11 to a feed water heater 12. The feed water heater isconstructed after the manner of a surface condenser being tubes 13carried by end plates 14 and communicating with end chambers 15 and 16formed by heads 17 and 18. End chamber 16 is divided by a partition 19into upper and lower chambers, 16 and 16 ,-c0nduit 11 communicating withthe lower chamber 16". Leading from the upper chamber 16 is a conduit 20which carries away the heated feed water and which may lead to a boileror hot well as indicated at 21. With this arrangement'it will be seenthat the condensate is fed from chamber 16 through the lower portion ofthe tubes18 to chamber 15, thence through the upper portion of tubesSpecification of Letters Patent.

water heater 12 provided with,

water heater.

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13 to conduit 20. Steam is led from an intermediate stage of the turbine5 to the feed by a conduit 22 provided with a suitable valve 23 and hereit gives up its heat to the condensate from condenser 8 and is itselfcondensed. The condensate from the heating steam is led to condenser 8by conduits 24 and 25 between which is a valve 26 having a hollowvstem'27 which extends into a float chamber 28. Float chamber 28 isconnected by a conduit 29 to the upper portion .of feed water heater l2and by a conduit 30 to conduits 24 and 25. In float chamber 28 is afloat 31 connected to the valve stem 27.

In operation condensate from condenser 8 is pumped through tubes 13 ofthe feed water heater flowing first through the lower portion of themand then through the upper portion as already referred to, and at thesame time suflicient steam is admitted through conduit 22 to heat thefeed water to the desired temperature. Such steam enters at the top ofthe feed water heater and condenses therein, giving up its heat to thecondensate flowing through tubes 13; Because of the float controlledvalves 26 the condensate in the feed water heater will assume and bemaintained at a level as shown in Figs. 1 and 3. As steam condenses inthe feed water heater raising the level therein, the float 31 will openvalve 26 to permit condensate to How out through conduits 24 and 25 tocondenser 8 from which it will be removed by pump 9 along the condensatefrom the turbine 5. The desired level of water in the heater 12 willalways be maintained, however. Cold condensate pumped from condenser ,8first passes through the tubes 13 in the lower portion of the feed Thesetubes are surrounded by condensate of the heating steam which is alreadypartially cooled and in passing through such tubes the condensate fromcondenser8 further cools the surrounding condensate of the heating steamso that when such surrounding condensate is discharged through valve 26it low temperature. As the condensate from condenser 8 passes throughthe tubes 13 in the upper portion of the heater 12 it passes throughtubes 13 surrounded by hotter condensate and by steam and hence isheated to the desired temperature before it passes is at a comparativelyI to conduit 20; By this arrangement the heat of the steam taken fromthe prime mover is efiiciently utilized in heating the feed water andsuch steam is condensed and cooled prior to its passage to the condenser8. Due to this when the condensed steam which has been used for heatingpasses to the condenser 8, it is sufiiciently cooled that it does notrevaporate. and thus impair the vacuum of the main condenser 8 andinterfere with the operation of the pump 9.

It is desirable that the steam space in the upper portion of the heater12 be connected to condenser 8 or to the usual air pump so that air andother non-condensable gases may be removed. In the present instance thisis done. by making the stem 27 hollow by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates, is

1. The combination of a prime mover, a feed water heater comprisingtubes through which the water to be heated flows, said water flowingfirst through the lower tubes and then through the upper tubes, aconduit for leading heating steam from the prime mover to the feed waterheater, a conduit for conveying the condensate therefrom, a valve in thelast named conduit, and means controlled by the level of condensate insaid feed water heater for operating said valve.

2. In combination, a prime mover, a condenser into which it exhausts, afeed water heater comprising tubes, a pump for taking the condensatefrom the condenser and pumping it through the tubes of the feed waterheater, a conduit for supplying steam to the feed water heater where itis condensed and gives up its heat to the condensate flowing throughsaid tubes, a conduit which connects the feed water heater to thecondenser for conveying the condensate of the heating steam to thecondenser, 'and means for maintaining such condensate at a predeterminedlevel in the heater.

3. In combination, a prime mover, 'a condenser into which it exhausts, afeed water heater comprising tubes, a pump for taking the condensatefrom the condenser and pumping itthrough the tubesof the feed waterheater, said condensate passing first through the lower tubes and thenthrough the upper tubes, a conduit for supplying steam from the primemover to the upper portion of the feed water heater, a conduit connectedwith the bottom of the feed water heater for conveying away thecondensate of the heating steam, and a valve in said last named conduitcontrolled by the level of the condensate of the heating steam in theheater for maintaining such condensate at a predetermined level therein.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 28th day of August,1918.

FREDERICK SAMUELSON.

Witnesses:

CHARLES H. FULLER, DOROTHY WHITE.

